Endless Thread

By WBUR and Reddit

Technology

What's Endless Thread about?

Endless Thread, a new podcast from WBUR and Reddit, delves into Reddit’s vast communities to explore some of the most compelling stories the internet has to offer.

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Unsent Letters

09.17.2020

The unsent letter. We all have one, half-composed in our heads or fully-formed as an email draft. If you’re really poetic, it might be on a piece of paper, yellowing in a drawer. Whatever form these letters take, they go ...

Endless Thread episodes:

09.17.2020 Unsent Letters The unsent letter. We all have one, half-composed in our heads or fully-formed as an email draft. If you’re really poetic, it might be on a piece of paper, yellowing in a drawer. Whatever form these letters take, they go ...
09.10.2020 Snacktime: Odd Jobs Do people say, "That's a thing??," when you tell them what you do for a living? Then you probably have an odd job. This week, Endless Thread tips its hat to you as we discuss the odd jobs of Redditors.
09.03.2020 Tight Squeeze You might not think about caves in the same breath as you do the deep ocean or outer space, but you probably should. There are approximately 70,000 caves in the United States alone, but the vast majority are inaccessible to ...
08.28.2020 Snacktime: Dad Jokes The spotlight is on r/DadJokes, which -- you guessed it -- is home to the most pun-derful, cheesy-but-lovable comedic material the internet has to offer. Starring the experts: Ben & Amory's DADS!
08.21.2020 Angel's Glow There's a Civil War legend that dates back to April of 1862, in the aftermath of the Battle of Shiloh. Supposedly, when night fell on thousands of wounded soldiers stranded on the battlefield, something strange happened. Some of their wounds ...
08.13.2020 Snacktime: Zelda And Zebra Plants Author John Boyne and Jeff the zebra plant take center stage in this edition of snacktime. Also, Ben and Amory realize they share an affinity for... melon ballers?
08.06.2020 Ghost Town In the summer of 2018, Brent Underwood got a text in the middle of the night from a friend saying, "Look at this ghost town for sale!" Within a month, Brent had purchased Cerro Gordo, California, an abandoned silver mining ...
07.30.2020 Snacktime: Harry Potter, Billie Eilish, And 'Soup Tubes' Ben, Amory, and Josh share some of the most memorable Reddit posts of late, from a "magical" parenting decision to a very bizarre business idea.
07.23.2020 Randonauts r/randonauts is a fast-growing community of Redditors who use random, quantum-generated coordinates to go on real-life adventures. But what happens when those random coordinates lead you straight to a grisly crime scene?
07.17.2020 Snacktime: Llama At A Wedding “What are the dimensions of an adult llama?” asked a Redditor called Mrs. Sam Handwich in the "No Stupid Questions" community. "I've been hired to make a tuxedo for a llama and I don't have its measurements," she added. We ...
07.09.2020 Giddyup Images of Black men and women riding horses at protests around the country have been going viral. But the history of Black cowboys goes all the way back to the creation of the American West. The Endless Thread team digs ...
07.02.2020 Encore: We Want Plates + Pile Of Crockery Endless Thread is re-releasing a crown jewel from the archives. It's the team's epic adventure to locate a mountain of dishware in the middle of the woods and, truly, it's even more ridiculous than it sounds. Originally released as a ...
06.25.2020 Shrinkflation From the supermarket to the housing market, products are getting smaller but prices are not. Why is this happening? And can it be stopped before the toilet paper roll disappears right before our very… reaching hands?
06.18.2020 Black Lives Matter IRL And Online Over the last few weeks, Endless Thread has been asking for stories that have caught your attention as millions of people around the country and around the world have come together to protest systemic racism and police brutality. Today, Juneteenth ...
06.11.2020 Bonus: Making 'Madness' "Madness," our 5-part series about the history of CIA-funded mind-control experiments, involved a lot of research and a lot of interviews -- most of which you heard excerpts from in the series, but some of which… you didn’t. Or, at ...
06.04.2020 Endless Thread Presents: Truth Be Told The Endless Thread team has been watching as protests and police brutality have broken out in cities around the country, and around the world. We are working on covering these events thoughtfully and carefully. If you have a story or ...
05.28.2020 Endless Thread Happy Hour Join the Endless Thread team on Friday, June 5th, at 5pm ET for a happy-hour Zoom discussion of our 5-part, in-depth series "Madness: The Secret Mission for Mind Control and the People Who Paid the Price." We'll answer your questions ...
05.21.2020 Madness, Pt. 5: The Unreachable Summit Dr. Ewen Cameron wanted to win a Nobel Prize for his work in psychiatry. He never got one. He died of a heart attack while climbing a mountain in the Adirondacks in 1967. So, we don’t have access to Cameron's ...
05.14.2020 Madness, Pt. 4: Pursuit Of Justice In the early 1980s, victims of Dr. Ewen Cameron’s mind-altering experiments at the Allan Memorial Institute began a slow process of finding each other and building a case against the CIA for funding Cameron's work. The legacy of that case ...
05.07.2020 Madness, Pt. 3: Subproject 68 As the fear of communism was rising in the U.S. after World War II, government officials set their sights on developing a weapon that sounds straight out of science fiction: mind control. This effort was led by the CIA in ...
04.30.2020 Madness, Pt. 2: Brave New World Hundreds of people who were experimented on at the Allan Memorial Institute over the course of two decades are all connected to one man: Dr. Ewen Cameron. In this episode, we look at how Cameron rose to prominence in his ...
04.23.2020 Madness, Pt. 1: The Sleep Room In our first episode, we share powerful accounts of abuse at a psychiatric hospital in Montreal, and we introduce the renowned doctor who conducted these disturbing experiments on his unwitting patients. *** "Madness" unravels the shocking history of CIA-funded mind-control ...
04.15.2020 Zoom Party This Friday! This Friday, April 17th, at 7pm EST, Endless Thread is hosting a Zoom party! Join co-hosts Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson and producer Josh Swartz for a little trivia, an exclusive sneak preview of their upcoming series, "Madness," and ...
04.10.2020 A Parent, A Nurse, And A Patient Another look at the far-reaching impact of the coronavirus pandemic. In this episode, we hear from a parent who recently had an infant in the NICU, a nurse who fears for his safety, and someone who recently recovered from COVID-19.
04.02.2020 Zombies And Preppers We speak with Max Brooks about the viral PSA he made with his dad, Mel Brooks, and how his zombie apocalypse novel, World War Z, has become eerily relevant during the coronavirus pandemic. Then, we chat with FrugalChef13, a "prepper," ...
03.27.2020 How Reddit's Coronavirus Community Became A Global Lifeline Redditors share how they're coping with the coronavirus pandemic. We also take an in-depth look at r/coronavirus, which has fast become one of the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and reliable sources of information for this constantly developing global story.
03.12.2020 Endless Thread Presents: 'Madness' Endless Thread presents a special series called "Madness: The secret mission for mind control and the people who paid the price." Get a sneak peek of the series by listening to the trailer now. New episodes coming soon. "Madness" unravels ...
02.28.2020 Encore: Call of the Void When you’re in a high place, peering over a ledge, do you ever get that super weird feeling that you should just... jump? This is a real scientific phenomenon that a lot of people experience, and it has a name: ...
02.13.2020 Snacktime: A Fairy Tale Proposal In honor of Valentine's Day, Amory tells Ben a snack-size story about a feast-size grand gesture that has left millions of people all over the world wishing they could re-do their marriage proposals.
01.30.2020 Double Life 92-year-old Robert Middelmann uncovered a secret about himself when he was very young. Keeping it was a matter of life and death. But, after many years, Robert decided to share that secret, along with the rest of his extraordinary life ...
01.23.2020 Snacktime: Snektime Ben and Amory dissscusss sssome facsssinating ssstories about sssnakes.
01.16.2020 'I Was Abducted' Monique has always known she was abducted as a child, but specific details about what happened, and why, have been elusive. It wasn’t until she posted to Reddit that she found real leads and painful memories started flooding back.
01.09.2020 Snacktime: Bushfires and Books Ben and Amory discuss a Reddit deep-dive about the Australian wildfires and one man's very, very long reading list.
01.02.2020 Where Are They Now (Updates!) Ben and Amory get updates from a few previous guests. Then, they invite the hosts of the podcast "Food, We Need To Talk" into the studio for a final debrief on their 2019 New Year's resolutions.
12.26.2019 Encore: Dear Anon What do Bill Gates, finding your soul mate, and charting a new life path have in common? Reddit Gifts! The world's largest anonymous gift exchange has led to some unexpected outcomes.
12.20.2019 Nick, Jess, and David Three autistic Redditors talk to us about their view of the world, their view of autism, and their hopes for greater representation in society.
12.12.2019 Snacktime: Feeling Adrift Ben shares a story about a real-life grand theft auto adventure and Amory tells the story of a dad whose new hobby may only be scratching the surface of something deeper.
12.05.2019 Free To Be Childfree r/childfree is one of the fastest growing communities on Reddit and it's for people who do NOT want children. They don't want to be told why they should have them, how much they'll regret it if they don't, and how ...
11.27.2019 Underunderstood: The 9/11 Hoax That Wasn't While we’re busy stuffing our faces over Thanksgiving, we thought we’d share a story you’ll love from another great podcast: Underunderstood. They look into a photo that frequently goes viral on Reddit to figure out, once and for all, whether ...
11.21.2019 To the Max (Headroom) On November 22nd, 1987, two TV stations in Chicago had their broadcast signals hijacked by someone wearing a Max Headroom mask. In the years since, Redditors have played an integral role in getting to the bottom of this case. Who ...
11.14.2019 Bonus: Glitter's Connection To Forensic Science Get ready for some extra sparkle on the heels of last week’s deep dive into “The Great Glitter Mystery.” Retired Forensic Scientist Ed Jones has one of the world’s largest glitter collections. And his side hobby has served him well ...
11.07.2019 The Great Glitter Mystery Endless Thread solves one of the internet’s most compelling unresolved mysteries. Inspired by a New York Times feature about glitter last year, Redditors have obsessed over identifying the mysterious industry buying huge amounts of glitter – information which glitter-makers have ...
10.29.2019 Endless Dread: Imaginary Friend When Kellie's 3 year-old daughter told her about her new imaginary friend, Kellum, she didn't think too much of it. But gradually, Kellum started to feel less and less... imaginary. Kellie and her daughter, Madison, tell us everything.
10.24.2019 Snacktime: Even More Dread Endless Dread continues with two more spooky stories, one about “The Smiling Man” and one about an unsettling recording from a sleep app.
10.17.2019 Endless Dread: Olga of Kiev Olga of Kiev executed one of the most bone-chilling revenge tours in history after her husband, Igor, was murdered. Then, with a burning city in her wake, she converted to Christianity and became a saint.
10.10.2019 Snacktime: Endless Dread We kick off this year’s series of spooky stories in the lead-up to Halloween with tales about a frightening curse and a memorable first date.
10.03.2019 Loot Crates Loot crates are virtual prize boxes available for purchase in video games, containing mystery items like customizations, powerful weapons, or rare gear. They are also the subject of the most downvoted Reddit comment of all-time, the crux of a debate ...
09.26.2019 Snacktime: Restoration Alex found an old and very rare family photo. The only problem? It was damaged to the point that the faces were completely unrecognizable. So...he turned to Reddit.
09.20.2019 Speak Memory Virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri know a lot about us – maybe TOO much about us. But when we’re gone, they also leave our loved ones with something to hold on to. In this episode, we explore how technology ...
09.12.2019 Snacktime: Who Is 'Batbrat?' A Redditor named ‘batbrat’ has been quietly solving mysteries for years – identifying everything from a Victorian mourning ring from the 1800s to a single bone of a deer – and others have started to take notice. "Who are you?," ...

Older episodes

Endless Thread

What's Endless Thread about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Endless Thread episodes:

Unsent Letters

Snacktime: Odd Jobs

Tight Squeeze

Snacktime: Dad Jokes

Angel's Glow

Snacktime: Zelda And Zebra Plants

Ghost Town

Snacktime: Harry Potter, Billie Eilish, And 'Soup Tubes'

Randonauts

Snacktime: Llama At A Wedding

Giddyup

Encore: We Want Plates + Pile Of Crockery

Shrinkflation

Black Lives Matter IRL And Online

Bonus: Making 'Madness'

Endless Thread Presents: Truth Be Told

Endless Thread Happy Hour

Madness, Pt. 5: The Unreachable Summit

Madness, Pt. 4: Pursuit Of Justice

Madness, Pt. 3: Subproject 68

Madness, Pt. 2: Brave New World

Madness, Pt. 1: The Sleep Room

Zoom Party This Friday!

A Parent, A Nurse, And A Patient

Zombies And Preppers

How Reddit's Coronavirus Community Became A Global Lifeline

Endless Thread Presents: 'Madness'

Encore: Call of the Void

Snacktime: A Fairy Tale Proposal

Double Life

Snacktime: Snektime

'I Was Abducted'

Snacktime: Bushfires and Books

Where Are They Now (Updates!)

Encore: Dear Anon

Nick, Jess, and David

Snacktime: Feeling Adrift

Free To Be Childfree

Underunderstood: The 9/11 Hoax That Wasn't

To the Max (Headroom)

Bonus: Glitter's Connection To Forensic Science

The Great Glitter Mystery

Endless Dread: Imaginary Friend

Snacktime: Even More Dread

Endless Dread: Olga of Kiev

Snacktime: Endless Dread

Loot Crates

Snacktime: Restoration

Speak Memory

Snacktime: Who Is 'Batbrat?'

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